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Asia Summit on Climate Changeand Indigenous Peoples

REPORT OF THE SUMMIT

With the Support of:

Organized by:

and

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Asia Summit on Climate Change and Indigenous Peoples:Report of the SummitTebtebba Foundation

Copyright © TEBTEBBA FOUNDATION, 2009

All rights reserved.No part of this book may be reproduced in any formor by any means without the written permissionof the copyright owner and the publisher.

Published byTebtebba FoundationNo. 1 Roman Ayson Road2600 Baguio CityPhilippinesTel. 63 74 4447703 Tel/Fax: 63 74 4439459E-mail: tebtebba@tebtebba.orgWebsite: www.tebtebba.org

Prepared by: Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, Leah Enkiwe-Abayao, Helen Magata and Helen TugendhatEdited by: Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, Joji Cariño and Raymond de ChavezCover and Layout: Paul Michael Q. Nera

Printed in the Philippinesby Valley Printing SpecialistBaguio City, Philippines

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Table of Contents

Abbreviations and Acronyms Used ........................................................ iv

1. Introduction ............................................................................. 11.1. Background ...................................................................... 11.2. Objectives of Summit ........................................................ 21.3. Summit Flow and Programme of Work ................................ 31.4. Participants ...................................................................... 4

2. Main Observations, Conclusions and Recommendations ............. 5

3. Strategies and the Roadmap to Copenhagen and Beyond ........... 28

4. Important Dates and Events in 2009 .......................................... 31

5. Annexes

Annex 1: List of Participants ..................................................... 33Annex 2: Programme of Work ................................................... 39Annex 3: Statement of Indigenous Peoples’ Organizations and

NGOs on the HRC Report on Climate Change and Human Rights.................................................... 44

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Abbreviations and Acronyms Used

ADB - Asia Development BankAMAN - Aliansi Masyarakat Adat Nusantara (Alliance of Indigenous

Peoples’ Organizations in the Archipelago - Indonesia)AWG-LCA - Ad-Hoc Working Group on Long-Term Cooperative ActionAWG-KP - Ad-Hoc Working Group on Further Commitments for Annex 1

Parties under the Kyoto ProtocolCADT - Certificate of Ancestral Domain TitleCIF - Climate Investment FundCDM - Clean Development MechanismCFSA - Community Forest Stewardship ActCHT - Chittagong Hill TractsCPA - Cordillera Peoples’ AllianceCOP - Conference of PartiesEED - Evangelische Entwicklungdienst, e.V.

(Protestant Church Development Service)FAO - Food and Agricultural OrganizationFCPF - Forest Carbon Partnership FacilityFIP - Forest Investment ProgramFPIC - Free, Prior and Informed ConsentG77 - Group of 77ICC - Inuit Circumpolar CouncilILO - International Labour OrganizationIFAD - International Fund for Agricultural DevelopmentIPCC - Intergovernmental Panel on Climate ChangeIPRA - Indigenous Peoples’ Rights Act of the PhilippinesIWGIA - International Workgroup on Indigenous AffairsJOAS - Indigenous Peoples’ Network of MalaysiaMPIDO - Mainyoto Pastoralists Integrated Development OrganizationNGO - Non-government OrganizationREDD - Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation

in Developing CountriesODA - Official Development AssistanceOECD - Organisation for Economic Co-operation and DevelopmentSBI - Subsidiary Body for ImplementationSBSTA - Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological AdviceTFAP - Tropical Forestry Action ProgrammeTWN - Third World NetworkUNDP - United Nations Development ProgrammeUNDRIP - United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous PeoplesUNEP - United Nations Environment ProgrammeUNFCCC - United Nations Framework Convention on Climate ChangeUNFF - United Nations Forum on ForestsUNPFII - United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous IssuesUN-REDD - United Nations Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and

Forest Degradation in Developing CountriesWB - World BankWCD - World Commission on Dams

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1.1. Background

1.1.1. The idea for this Summit emerged from the original plan to hold a GlobalSummit on Indigenous Peoples and Climate Change which will be heldin Alaska from 20-24 April 2009. This Global Summit is mainly organizedby the International Inuit Circumpolar Council (ICC). During the first meetingof the Global Steering Committee in New York last May 2008, the Asiafocal person of this committee suggested that before the Global Summittakes place the regions could hold their own processes so that morepeople from the regions can be involved. The Committee agreed but itmade clear that the responsibility for raising funds and organizing theseprocesses will rest with the regional focal persons interested to pursuethese.

1.1.2. The focal person for Asia, Vicky Tauli-Corpuz, discussed the idea withseveral partners who might be interested to support these initiatives. TheInternational Work Group on Indigenous Affairs (IWGIA), a support NGOfor indigenous peoples based in Copenhagen, agreed to provide seedfunding for the Asia and Africa Summits. Then, IFAD (International Fundfor Agricultural Development) came on board after Tauli-Corpuz got thecommitment of the President of IFAD, Lennart Böge, to support the threeregional summits. The IFAD funding has been channeled to MPIDO(Mainyoto Pastoralists Integrated Development Organization) but it cov-ered all three summits. Evangelische Entwicklungdienst (EED e.V) ofGermany also provided support for the colleagues in Tebtebba who, to-gether with the Secretariat of AMAN, did the organizing work for thisSummit. The Third World Network (TWN) gave modest support to bringmore participants. We express our heartfelt gratitude to these partnerswho provided the resources which allowed the Asia Summit and otherregional summits to take place.

1. INTRODUCTION

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1.1.3. The organizers for the regional summits were Tarcila Rivera Zea of Chirapaqin Peru for the Latin America and Carribean Summit, Joseph Ole Simelof the MPIDO in Kenya for the Africa Summit and Vicky Tauli-Corpuz ofTebtebba Foundation in the Philippines for the Asia Summit.

1.1.4. An Asian Indigenous Peoples’ Steering Committee for the Climate ChangeSummit was established in Chiangmai, during the Regional Fair on theImplementation of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples(UNDRIP) in Chiangmai, Thailand in June 2008. The members of thisgroup helped identify the participants from their countries, recommendedindigenous researchers on local adaptation and mitigation measures andhelped run the Summit. A listserve was set up to sustain communica-tions between the members and other indigenous persons and represen-tatives of support NGOs who expressed their desire to be part of this.The listserve is asiaipclimatechange@yahoogroups.com.

1.1.5. The main organizers for this Summit were Tebtebba (Indigenous Peoples’International Centre for Policy Research and Education) and AMAN (AliansiMasyarakat Adat Nusantara).

1.2. Objectives

The objectives set forth for this Summit were the following:1.2.1. To enable representatives of indigenous peoples to share the impacts of

climate change and the results of the researches done on indigenouspeoples’ local mitigation and adaptation measures.

1.2.2. To enhance the understanding and knowledge of the participants on cli-mate change and the state of negotiations at the UNFCCC and to dis-cuss and agree on positions on certain key issues.

1.2.3. To collectively deliberate on strategies to ensure that indigenous peoples’rights and development are taken into consideration by States Partiesto the UNFCCC, multilateral organizations and other actors involved indeveloping and implementing policies, programs and projects on climatechange at the national, regional and global levels.

1.2.4. To develop a roadmap for indigenous peoples to guide them on how toeffectively engage with the processes leading up to COP 15 in Copenhagenand beyond.

1.2.5. To build an Asia-wide network of indigenous peoples on climate changewhich will monitor, engage with and influence the climate change pro-cesses at national, regional and global levels.

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1.3. Summit Flow and Programme of Work1

1.3.1. The Summit started on the first day (Feb. 24, 2009) with a presentationon the overview of climate change. This was to ensure that the partici-pants, who had different levels of understanding of climate change, wereall on the same page. After this, nine country presentations of the re-searches done on local adaptation and mitigation measures of indig-enous peoples were presented.1 These were done and presented byindigenous researchers and they covered one or two indigenous commu-nities in each country. In Indonesia, there were two cases. One is on anIban community in Menua Sungai Utik in West Kalimantan. Anothercase is in Northern Lombok in Sulawesi. In the Philippines, two commu-nities were covered, the Ikalahan community in Imugan, Nueva Vizcayaand the community of the Tagbanua in Coron, Palawan. The case studyfor Viet Nam was done in Kep A Village, Minh Son Commune, Bac MeDistrict in Ha Giang Province. In Malaysia this was a case study of theDayak-Bidayuh-Jagoi village of Duyoh in Sarawak. Monglechan Karbaripara in Kamalchari Mukh in the Khagrachari District of the ChittagongHill Tracts was the case study for Bangladesh. In India this was done inArunachal Pradesh, Northeast India among the Galo peoples. A case inNagaland, Northeast India was also presented. And for Burma, a case ofChin peoples in the Chin State was prepared and presented.

1.3.2. The second day (Feb. 25) started with a presentation on the presentstate of negotiations at the UNFCCC, which covered the various issuesnegotiated within the AWG-LCA,AWG-KP, SBSTA and SBI. This wasfollowed by a plenary session devoted to the various bilateral and multi-lateral initiatives on climate change which included the presentations onthe UN-REDD Programme, the Norwegian Climate and Forest Initiativeas well as other Climate Funds under the UNFCCC, such as the Adapta-tion Fund, the Least Development Countries Fund, among others. TheWorld Bank presented their Forest Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF),the Forest Investment Programme (FIP) and the Climate Investment Funds(CIF).

1.3.3. In the afternoon of the second day, workshop groups were held on thefollowing topics:

• Climate Change, Indigenous Women and Children;• Climate Change, Biodiversity and Traditional Knowledge and

REDD;• Climate Change, Human Rights and the UN Declaration on

the Rights of Indigenous Peoples;• Climate Change and Indigenous Peoples’ Self-Determined De-

velopment.

1.3.4. On the third day (Feb. 26), the various groups presented their reportsand a plenary session on strategies and the road map took place. This

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was where the participants discussed mitigation, adaptation, financeand technology, REDD and emissions trading. The participants reachedcommon positions and agreements on various issues such as REDD,emissions trading, climate change finances, among others. At the lastplenary session ideas on strategy and road map were discussed andagreed upon. The idea of establishing an Asian Indigenous Peoples’Network on Climate Change was agreed upon.

1.3.5. Many participants stayed for another day to do community visits to twocommunities of indigenous peoples of Bali who are engaged in climatechange mitigation and adaptation processes. One community is Tabananwhere community reforestation of a denuded forest took place and wherea traditional communal irrigation system is still maintained and prac-ticed. The local government hosted the participants where solidarity nightcelebrations were undertaken where they showed their culture throughdances and songs. They are in the process of getting the UNESCO todeclare their rice-fields and traditional communal irrigation system as aCultural Heritage Site and they have requested the UN Permanent Fo-rum on Indigenous Issues to help them in this endeavour.

1.3.6. Another place visited is Serangan, an indigenous community which re-habilitated the coral reefs and mangrove forests which were destroyedduring the Suharto era because of a land reclamation project to set upgolf courses for tourists. When the Suharto regime fell, this project wasdiscontinued and the indigenous peoples asserted their ownership overthe lands and waters and started their rehabilitation work. The indig-enous peoples of the coastal community of Serangan, a member of AMAN,have demonstrated their resilience in addressing the impacts of changesin their ecosystems because of man made projects and climate change.

1.4. Participants

1.4.1. There were 65 participants most of whom are indigenous representativescoming from 12 Asian countries (Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, Indone-sia, India, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Philippines, Taiwan, Thailand, Viet-nam). Most of these were representatives of national and regional net-works of indigenous peoples’ organizations and communities in Asia.Joseph Ole Simel, the convenor of the Africa Summit, also participatedso he can share with the Africa Summit what happened. Others repre-sented their own local organizations or institutions. Representatives ofsupport NGOs from various countries (Denmark, Switzerland, UK, USA)also participated. There were observers which included the representa-tives of the UN-REDD Programme, the World Bank, and the UNDP.(Please refer to Annex 1 for a complete list of participants.)

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The main findings, conclusions and recommendations from the presentations, casestudies and workshop group reports are the following;

Vulnerabilities to Climate Change and to Some Climate ChangeSolutions

2.1. Indigenous peoples in the Asia region inhabit the most fragile ecosys-tems ranging from tropical rainforests, high mountain areas, low-lyingcoastal areas and floodplains as well as temperate forests. Becausemost of them are dependent on the land and natural resources fromthese ecosystems, they are in the forefront of climate change impactsand threats. These include intensified typhoons, cyclones, monsoonsand storms, long droughts and expansion of desertified areas, melting ofglaciers leading to flooding and decrease of river flows and water sup-plies, sea-level rise, stronger sea waves and currents, coastline erosionand salinization of freshwater resources and soils, rampaging and long-staying floods, landslides and increase in cases of vector-borne andwater-borne diseases (malaria, dengue, cholera and other gastro-intes-tinal diseases), phenomenal temperature rise causing heat strokes andmore forest fires. The unprecedented increase in disasters and calami-ties caused by global warming due to climate change was a commonobservation by all participants.

2.2. Indigenous peoples, the world over, have contributed the least to theclimate change crisis. Yet, they are the ones suffering the most from theadverse impacts of climate change and even from some of the solutionsto the problem. Their ecological footprints are very small as most of themstill practice their sustainable traditional livelihoods which include, amongothers, swidden agriculture, hunting and gathering, trapping, pastoral-ism, extraction of non-timber forest products, small-scale mining and

2. MAIN FINDINGS, CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

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agro-forestry. They have resisted the deforestation and destruction oftheir forests by loggers, plantation owners, extractive industries and othercorporate and state interests. They also have fought against the extrac-tion of oil, gas and minerals from their lands which has kept carbonunder the ground. Thus, indigenous peoples have contributed significantlyto reducing greenhouse gas emissions, historically, and up to the present.

2.3. Unfortunately, indigenous peoples’ positive contributions to the abate-ment of greenhouse gas emissions are not generally recognized norcompensated by the UNFCCC and other multilateral and bilateral bod-ies. To make matters worse, their right to own, control and manage theirtraditional lands, their right to subsistence and to practice their owntraditional cultures and livelihoods, and their right to self-determinationhave been and continue to be grossly violated by States and non-stateactors (corporations, elites from dominant populations). Their traditionalknowledge and customary laws and practices on natural resource man-agement as well as disaster management have contributed in keepingthe forests, maintaining biological diversity and cultural diversity. Thisknowledge has enabled them to adapt to and mitigate climate change.

2.4. Most of the cultures of indigenous peoples are based on the diverseecological systems they inhabit and relate with. Their cultures, norms,values and practices revolve around land, water, air, sun, flora and fauna,their relationships with the living earth, the seen and the unseen, as wellas with the past and the future. Thus, the changes to the ecosystembrought about by the variability of the climate have affected their lifewaysand diverse cultures as well as the biological diversity in their territories.Climate variability, such as changes in rainfall patterns, affect their foodsecurity as well as the practice of agricultural rituals and their traditionalknowledge, innovations and practices.

2.5. Climate change has led to long drought periods leading to the watercrisis, food insecurity, increased health problems, and forest fires. Theburdens of indigenous women and children are much heavier because ofthe need to seek for water sources far away from their homes and thecare of increasing numbers of sick young and elderly family memberswho are suffering from heat strokes and vector and waterborne diseases.The increased temperature also makes it very hard for farmers to worklong hours in the fields. In Jharkand (India), for example, they have expe-rienced the highest temperature in 2007 with 55 degrees Celsius. Sev-eral elderly people died of heat strokes and forest fires increased. Thehighest temperature in the past ranged from 40-45. Jharkand is a sum-mer destination for Indian and other tourists because of its cool climate.Now the temperature ranges from 4 to 55 degrees Celsius.

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2.6. Planting seasons and the periods for cultural ceremonies and traditionshave changed because of erratic rainy seasons, long droughts and floods.Rice planting, whether in wet terraces or in the hills, start once the rainscome. With the changes in seasons, however, indigenous farmers haveto change their planting seasons which also affects the periods for cul-tural rituals and traditions. Certain rituals are done during land prepara-tion, planting, harvesting and weeding, threshing and transporting fromharvest from the fields to storing this in granaries. So this is not just donefor production of food. In most Asian countries, rice paddy farming isassociated with a series of cultural ceremonies and rituals to ensure asuccessful harvest and the continuing indigenous practices of mutuallabour exchange. Rituals which pay respects and provide propitiation tothe water deities, gods and goddesses; rice gods and goddesses, spir-its in the forests, etc. continue to be practiced although the times whenthese rituals are performed are profoundly disturbed.

2.7. Food insecurity is suffered by indigenous peoples in the Chittagong HillTracts in Bangladesh, Myanmar, Northeast India and Thailand. They haveexperienced unprecedented long droughts and floods as well as massiverat infestation in the past five years. This phenomenon is linked with theflowering of the bamboo trees in 2006. This is a very rare occurrence aseven the old people say it took place only once or twice in their lifetime.Rats attacked ricefields and Jhum or swidden farms leaving no food forthe people, exacerbated by the disappearance of natural predators likesnakes, birds, wild cats, due to deforestation and forest fires broughtabout by long drought seasons. The rat infestation and drought led to adevastating famine in 2007 resulting in malnutrition of indigenous peoplesin the Chittagong Hill Tracts, particularly children under five years of age.Incidents of vector-borne diseases like malaria and dengue fever andincreased cases of children going blind because of vitamin A deficiencyhas been reported by the health authorities. Cyclone and storm surgeshave caused massive landslides and soil erosion and destroyed cropsand even forests.

2.8. In Khagrachari in the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT), severe floods tookplace in 2006 which lasted for 15 days and led to the destruction ofhouses and thousands of acres of land planted to food and other crops.Thousands of indigenous persons were displaced. Massive floods alsooccurred in the coastal areas of Bangladesh which has led to freshwatersalinization and increased incidents of diseases. Agricultural productionof the Santal, Munda and Oraon, indigenous peoples who live in NorthBengal, has decreased significantly because of increased precipitationin their territories. The Rakhine are the indigenous peoples who live inthe coastal areas who have suffered worst floods because of the risingsea level which caused coastal and river bank erosion and the depres-sion of the Sundarbans, one of the best floodplain mangrove forests inthe world. More migration from Dhaka and other low-lying coastal areasinto the CHT will mean the further minoritization of the indigenous peoples

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in that region. This will also exacerbate existing conflicts over lands andnatural resources between the Bengali people and the Jummas.3

2.9. Similar long weeks of flood have been reported by indigenous peoples inMalaysia, Philippines, Indonesia and Viet Nam. In Ha Giang Province inViet Nam irregular rainfall, unusual flooding and unpredictable whirlwindsand storms have led to long weeks of floods which submerged lands andcrops and drowned livestock, destroyed infrastructures and disturbedsocio-cultural activities such as community feasts and rituals. Asidefrom the loss of crops and livestock leading to food insecurity, there havebeen high incidences of epidemics amongst humans and animals.4 Thissame conclusion from the Malaysia case study indicates that food inse-curity worsened due to changes in weather patterns. Bumper crops fromrice and fruit trees are much less and the quality and quantity of fruitharvests have suffered.

2.10. The indigenous participants from Indonesia reported that there are newspecies of insects invading indigenous communities after long bouts ofdrought. Unusual insect behavioral patterns are taking place causingmassive destruction of crops. Locust invasions and plagues in Indone-sia, for example, have increased in occurrence and intensity. After the1950s this occurred once in 20 years. In the 1990s this happened oncein five years and at present it is happening every two years, attested todeforestation and landscape alterations taking place due to logging,monocrop plantations and worsening forest fires due to prolongeddroughts. The changes in land cover and the quality of the top soil pro-vided suitable conditions for the locust to lay eggs and for hatching.

2.11. Increased disasters and calamities have compounded in the past 15years. These include typhoons and floods leading to massive landslides;increased heat and drought causing more forest fires and more hazeand air pollution; and sea level rise, river floods and delta flooding caus-ing coastal and soil erosion. In Indonesia, the haze from rampant burn-ing of forests to convert these to oil palm plantations for increased pro-duction of biofuels led to high incidence of respiratory diseases notonly in the areas where burning is taking place but even in many placesin Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Brunei and Thailand.

2.12. Traditional livelihoods and other economic activities of indigenous peoplesare also adversely impacted by climate change. In Malaysia, for ex-ample, rubber tapping has been a source of cash for many indigenouspeoples in Sarawak and Sabah. Latex is tapped when the leaves of therubber tree are shed around August and September. With the changesin weather, leaves shed as early as January and thus there is less latexgathered which means less income. Other fruit trees like durian andengkabang (also known as ilipe nut) are indigenous species in Sarawakand these are sources of cash and food. Bumper crop harvests fromthese trees have decreased significantly because of weather changes.5

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Clove production, a major source of cash, amongst the indigenouspeoples of Lombok in Indonesia dropped by 40 per cent in 2007. This isdue to temperature rise. Pest resurgence has also led to a decrease incacao and banana production in Indonesia.

2.13. Asian indigenous women are much more vulnerable to climate changeimpacts compared to the men because they are often the subsistenceproducers and are heavily reliant on the quality and quantity of naturalresources. They are the main caregivers, water and food providers andyet they have the least access to land, education and health facilities,technologies and agricultural technical assistance and inputs, and di-saster relief services, infrastructure development and credit assistance.Many of them suffer from discrimination in their own indigenous societ-ies, in the dominant society and in the labour market. Climate changehas adversely affected the livelihoods of indigenous women in the vil-lages of Khuti District in Jharkand, India. This is the production and saleof lac, a natural polymer (resin) produced by an insect called kerr (Kerrialacca).6 Lac which is used to polish fruits to maintain their freshness andfor handicrafts is a second source of income for the women next topaddy rice production. The production has gone down in the past threeto four years because of the extreme cold (4-10 degrees Celsius), lack ofsunlight and increased frost.

2.14. The Himalayan glaciers are the lifeline for around two billion people inNepal, India, China and the Mekong region who rely on glacier-depen-dent rivers such as the Ganges, Brahmaputra, Indus, Mekong, Yellowand Yangtze Rivers. They face acute and long-term shortages of waterbecause of the melting of the glaciers and the vanishing snowpeaks.This deglacialization has also induced floods downstream due to thesurge of water into the rivers and consequently prolonged droughts be-cause of decreased river flows and water supply. India’s northern regionwill experience more floods in the coming years because of changingstream flow patterns in the Himalayan rivers. The floods caused by thechange of course of Kosi River in Bihar affected close to three millionpeople, many of whom are indigenous peoples.

2.15. There are more reports of disasters in the form of landslides which fur-ther isolated many indigenous communities as paths and roads aredestroyed. In Nepal, it was observed that the phenomenal decrease ofavailable water adversely affected crop production and the changes inthe agricultural patterns and quality of agricultural crops. Peas andrhodendron are flowering much earlier and the apples are less sweetthan they used to be. There are unknown insects invading the highmountain communities, because of increased temperatures, causingdiseases which were not there before. Tourism, which is a main sourceof livelihood for many indigenous peoples, has decreased in recent yearsbecause of the accidents caused by avalanches and landslides.

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2.16. The increasing scarcity of freshwater because of droughts, water salin-ization, the privatization and commercialization of water, as well as theunequal distribution of water due to government regulations (e.g., pipingof water for the use of big hotels for the tourism industry) all lead todifficult situations for indigenous peoples. Their right to water is beingviolated and their capacity to adapt to climate change is further compro-mised. Water conflicts are becoming more frequent in indigenous territo-ries. Most watersheds in Asian countries are found in indigenous territo-ries because they mainly inhabit mountains and forests. Their tradi-tional water management systems lack government support. Examplesof how they are adapting to water scarcity due to climate change im-pacts will be discussed further in the next section.

2.17. Deforestation, which contributes 20 per cent of greenhouse gas emis-sions, was identified as a major problem in almost all the countries.Most nation-states passed forest laws which legitimized the ownershipand control of State forests, including those found in indigenous peoplesterritories. Forests have been and are still used for patronage politicswhich is a key driver of deforestation. Officials in the government grantedforest concessions to their cronies and families to log and to establishmonoculture plantations. Western systems of forest management orso-called scientific forestry, adopted by most governments, have dis-criminated against and denigrated indigenous peoples’ forest manage-ment systems. Yet, the forest industry sector which has enjoyed mas-sive infusion of loans from institutions like the World Bank (WB) and theAsian Development Bank (ADB) has been the major cause of deforesta-tion in many Asian countries. Many indigenous peoples who live anddepend on forests have resisted and struggled against projects like theTropical Forestry Action Programme (TFAP) and against big loggingand plantation companies. They have asserted their prior rights to ownand control their forests. Many conflicts in indigenous peoples’ territo-ries in Asia have been conflicts over the ownership and use of forests.Because of indigenous peoples’ struggles to protect their territories andto stop deforestation, most of the remaining rainforests and secondaryforests in Asian countries are found in indigenous peoples’ territories.

2.18. A concern was raised on how indigenous peoples’ traditional agroforestryand agroecosystem practices, such as shifting cultivation or swiddenfarming, are being singled out as drivers of deforestation. Brochures,such as the WB’s FCPF, contains such information. Asian indigenouspeoples’ representatives who attended a consultation of the FCPF criti-cized this. The participants consider the demonization of their tradi-tional livelihoods as a case of injustice and discrimination against indig-enous peoples. Most indigenous peoples point to the logging industry,plantations, infrastructure-building such as roads and hydroelectric damsas well as mining, oil and gas corporations as the key drivers of defores-tation in Asia.

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2.19. Indonesia has the distinction of being a country with the highest rate ofdeforestation, estimated to be two million hectares per year. Despite itnot being fully industrialized, it is now the fourth biggest emitter of green-house gases. This is mainly due to deforestation. Indigenous peoples inIndonesia suffer the most from this and there are hundreds of legal casesfiled against plantation owners and financiers, loggers and miners. Cam-bodia passed an Economic Concession Act which allows the state tosell lands, including forests, to loggers, plantation owners or simpleland speculators. Indigenous peoples have raised the issue of defores-tation and destruction of their spirit forests in 2007, before the UN Spe-cial Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights and FundamentalFreedoms of Indigenous Peoples and in the 2007-2008 sessions of theUN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues. Another example sharedwas the case of Jharkand, which used to have very dense forest whichare fast disappearing because of logging and mining.

2.20. Indigenous peoples who live in low-lying coastal areas are also very muchaffected by climate change and unsustainable practices such as cya-nide fishing, harbor dredging, coral mining, deforestation, coastal devel-opment, agricultural runoffs, pollution from mining operations and care-less divers. All these have led to a devastating loss of corals across theworld and in Asia. The Philippines has one of the longest coastlines inthe world covering 32,400 kilometers.7 About 70 per cent of the country’smunicipalities share the coast and there are approximately 50 millionpeople living in the Philippine coastal areas that are at risk from theimpacts of extreme climatic changes manifested in sea level changesand degradation of coastal and marine ecosystems, to name a few.These include indigenous peoples, among them, the Calamian Tagbanua.

2.21. A case study was done in the villages of Banuang Daan and Cabugao ofCoron Island in Palawan. These form part of the ancestral domain of theCalamian Tagbanua, who were recently granted with their Certificate ofAncestral Domain Title by the Philippine Government. The CalamianTagbanua are mainly seafaring people whose lives revolve around theaawuyuk (lakes), talu (corals), teeb surublien or teeb sorableyen (an-cestral waters), leyang (caves) and geba (forest). According to them,the rise in temperature of the sea, along with the pollution and destruc-tion of coral reefs, has lowered their daily fish catch from 30 kilograms afew years back to five kilograms today. Coral bleaching has been ob-served and their capacity to fish has also decreased because they can-not stay long in the sea lest they get heat strokes. They mainly practicesubsistence fishing using bamboos, fishing hooks and spears as theirtools. They also maintain strict rules which regulate the amount of fishtaken and they have delineated sacred areas called panyaan, where noone is allowed to catch fish. Aside from fishing they also do subsis-tence agriculture and agro- forestry.

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2.22. Some solutions being proposed and implemented for mitigation hascaused additional problems for indigenous peoples in Asia. The call fora shift away from fossil fuels into alternative, renewable sources of en-ergy is causing further expropriation of the lands, territories and resourcesof indigenous peoples. In Indonesia and Malaysia, for instance, increasedacreage devoted to oil palm plantations for bio-diesel has taken awaymore lands from indigenous peoples.

2.23. This issue was taken up by the UN Permanent Forum on IndigenousIssues at its 6th Session, issuing a report which documented how oilpalm plantations have affected indigenous peoples in Indonesia.8 Therapporteurs found out that from 106,000 hectares in 1960, the acreagefor oil palm plantations has increased to six million hectares in 2006.The Government made the Kalimantan Border Oil Palm Mega-Project(April 2006), which will convert an additional three million hectares inBorneo into oil palm plantations. This spurred AMAN, the national fed-eration of indigenous peoples’ organization in Indonesia, to request for astudy from the UNPFII on this situation. When the report came out,AMAN used this to support their submission to the Committee on theElimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD), a UN Treaty Body. Subse-quently, the CERD recommended to the Indonesian Government to re-view the law which pushed for expansion of oil palm plantations and toensure that the rights of indigenous peoples are respected. As a result ofall these actions, the Government has put on hold the plans for expan-sion.

2.24. In Myanmar, the government has pushed for jatropha plantations in ChinState. Forced labour was used to establish these plantations. The Armywas brought in to confiscate indigenous lands, and there has been aloss of income for the people because they were forced to buy jatrophaseedlings to plant. Fines are imposed as punishment for non-compli-ance, taking away what little cash people have.

2.25. Since the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) 2007 re-port confirmed that deforestation causes 18-20 per cent of worldwidegreenhouse gas emissions, the proposal for Reduced Emissions fromDeforestation and Forest Degradation in Developing Countries (REDD)gained currency in the UNFCCC negotiations. REDD poses both threatsand opportunities for indigenous peoples. The main threat is the central-ization of control of States over tropical rainforests which form part ofindigenous peoples’ territories. The legacy of forest management, sincecolonization up to the establishment of post-colonial nation-states, isfraught with conflicts between indigenous peoples and States and be-tween them and the forest industry.

2.26. It is highly probable that indigenous peoples’ rights to free, prior and

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informed consent will not be respected when their forests are classifiedas carbon forests under the proposed REDD scheme. The inclusion offorests in carbon or emissions trading system can also result in theprivatization and commercialization of indigenous peoples’ forests andfurther exclusion from decisions- making on how their forests should besafeguarded and used. If REDD is designed in the wrong way and doesnot respect the rights of indigenous peoples to their forests, this couldlead to the expropriation of indigenous owned and controlled forests andthe further destruction of indigenous peoples’ forest management sys-tems.

2.27. The opportunities offered by REDD will depend largely on how indig-enous peoples can effectively influence the negotiations for the inclusionof REDD in the COP 15 Copenhagen Agreements and their involvementin designing REDD at the national and global levels. It is fair to say thatreferences to indigenous peoples in the UNFCCC negotiations and docu-ments were introduced due to the debates around REDD. A renewedattention to forests has been spurred by REDD especially after the dis-mal handling of forest issues by the UN Forum on Forests (UNFF). Thisoffers opportunities for indigenous peoples to call and push for rectifica-tion of past mistakes and reforms of laws, policies and programmeswhich have undermined their ownership, control and access to forests.Because the REDD discussions are happening after the adoption of theUN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, this also providesan opportunity for indigenous peoples to push that the UNDRIP be-comes one of the foundations for the design and implementation ofREDD. While there has been resistance to UNDRIP being brought intothe REDD texts, led by New Zealand, the US and Canada, indigenouspeoples and their allies should persist in pushing for this.

2.28. Even before an agreement has been reached on REDD in the UNFCCC,there are already several agreements on REDD and trading of forestcarbon forged between Asian governments and donor countries and be-tween governments and investment banks involved in carbon trading.9

One of these is the 2008 agreement between Merrill Lynch and theProvincial Government of Aceh, in Indonesia, where Merrill Lynch willinvest more than US$9 million over four years to conserve the forests inAceh. Merrill Lynch calculated that it will generate 3.4 million tonnes ofoffset carbon. This was brokered by Carbon Conservation, a carbontrader based in Australia. The future of this agreement in the light of theglobal economic downturn where institutions like Merrill Lynch are af-fected is something to monitor.

2.29. Another agreement on REDD was signed between Indonesia and Aus-tralia to develop a “Roadmap for Access to International Carbon Mar-kets.” This established the Indonesia-Australia Forest Carbon Partner-ship which is meant to develop programmes to “..reduce emissions from

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deforestation and forest degradation, to promote livelihoods for forest-dependent communities and to promote biodiversity conservation.” A sec-ond agreement between these two countries is the Kalimantan Forestand Climate Partnership which is intended to try out a market-basedapproach to finance REDD implementation in Central Kalimantan. In allthese arrangements, there has not been any significant involvement ofindigenous peoples from affected communities.

2.30. The voluntary carbon market has penetrated Malaysia and there are threeknown projects being implemented. Two of these are located in UluSegama-Malua Forest Reserve in Sabah and the third one is in the South-East Pahang Peatswamp Forest in Pahang. The former is jointly under-taken with the FACE Foundation of the Netherlands, New England Powerin the USA and the Borneo Tropical Rainforest Foundation in the UnitedKingdom. The later is part of Malaysia Airlines’ Voluntary Carbon OffsetScheme.10

2.31. There is a phenomenal increase in the number of mega-hydroelectricdams, which is considered as a source of clean and renewable energyand is included in the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) of theUNFCCC. Many dam projects are being built and are in the pipeline incountries like India, Thailand, Indonesia, Philippines, Mekong region,Nepal and Myanmar. In Northeast India, alone, more than 160 hydroelec-tric dam projects are in the pipeline and several of these are in the ad-vanced stage of development. Several of these are categorized as CDM.Indigenous peoples from this region have reasons to believe that thesehydroelectric dams are designed to provide power to the extractive in-dustries which are interested to extract uranium, chromium, bauxite andother minerals found in indigenous peoples’ territories.

2.32. Researches have shown that big hydroelectric dams cannot be consid-ered clean as these are sources of greenhouse gases, which are notonly carbon dioxide but also methane and nitrous oxide. Carbon dioxideis emitted from the decomposition of organic matter which settle in thebottom of the dam reservoir. Methane, which is 25 times more potentthan carbon dioxide, forms when bacteria decompose organic matterand sediments in oxygen-poor water.11 The inclusion of hydroelectricdams in the CDM is therefore controversial, as researches have shownthat some dams emit more greenhouse gases than coal-fired powerplants. Thus, on top of the social, cultural and economic impacts of bighydroelectric dams on indigenous peoples, it is whether large damsprovide clean energy.

2.33. A pre-feasibility study prepared by the Government of India for the TizuH.E. Project in Nagaland says that there are deposits of chromium,nickel, cobalt, iron ore and limestone, and low-grade coal presentlybeing mined in the state. The report states that “boreholes drilled in thewestern districts of Wokha have yielded oil and seepages in Dikhu val-

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ley.” It added that “the per capita power consumption of Nagaland isbelow 100 kWh as compared to the national average of 373 kWh. TheState plans to harness its enormous natural resources like forests andhydro power and exploit its mineral wealth to usher in an era of economicdevelopment and raise the per capita electricity consumption to 500kWh by the end of Eleventh Five year Plan period, i.e., 2012.”12 The TikuH.E. Project will produce 150 MW and this can provide part of the powerneeded for this project.

2.34. Serious concerns were raised with the increase in dam-building and theincrease in investments and loans for these. The presentation from theWorld Bank confirmed that its lending for hydroelectric power dams hasincreased significantly in the past three years. The massive displace-ment of indigenous peoples is anticipated and the threat of their forestsand agriculture lands being submerged is high. The study on the TikuH.E. Project has referred to this. It said that 1,626 hectares of land willbe submerged which will include 601.62 hectares of open and denseforests. The social and environmental impacts of dam-building on indig-enous peoples and their territories are already being felt. When thesehundreds of dams in India will be built, it is hard to imagine what thiscan mean in terms of more social conflicts, more environmental devas-tation and increased greenhouse gas emission. There are also damsbeing built in the Mekong region which will bring about similar impacts.The cross-boundary effects of such developments need to be exploredfurther and addressed, as dams do not only impact the countries wherethey are built, but all the riparian countries where the river flows. TheSummit strongly urged that the recommendations from the World Com-mission on Dams (WCD) Report be used to make States comply withinternational norms on sustainable development, including respect forthe rights of indigenous peoples to free, prior and informed consent. andto undertake strategic social and environmental impact assessmentswhich will determine the best options on water and energy development.

2.35. With the strong lobby of the nuclear industry to consider nuclear energyas clean energy, the mining of uranium in indigenous peoples’ territoriesis also increasing. Indigenous peoples from Meghalaya in India and fromKalimantan in Indonesia are now threatened with the entry of uraniummining corporations into their communities.

Resilience and mitigation and adaptation measures of indigenous peoples

2.36. For millenia, indigenous peoples have drawn on their traditional knowl-edge, innovations and practices on agriculture, agroforestry, coastal andriver management, use of medicinal plants, water management and har-vesting, and disaster management, among others.They do not see ad-aptation and mitigation as two separate activities. Their adaptation pro-

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cesses contribute to mitigation and their mitigation measures are inte-gral to how they continue to adapt to the ecosystems they live inhabit..Their capacities to adapt and mitigate, however, are closely linked tothe respect and protection of their rights to their lands, territories andresources as well as their right to freely determine their own economic,social and cultural development. The rights which are crucial for theirsurvival and the protection of the earth are all contained in the UN Dec-laration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. This is why indigenouspeoples continue to assert its inclusion within the main framework toguide climate change policies and programmes at the national and glo-bal levels.

2.37. Indigenous peoples resilience and capacity to adapt to climate changevaries from country to country and from people to people. However, mostof them have developed strategies to cope with unusual weather eventsand accompanying impacts. Participants stressed that the diversifiedcropping patterns, maintenance of soil fertility, sophisticated manage-ment of water for irrigation and use of water harvesting techniques havelessened their vulnerability and enhanced their resilience to climatic vari-ability. They are trying to develop seeds and increase the use of plantswhich can withstand droughts and floods. They are also diversifying theirfood sources not just to rely on the staples which they are used to but touse other wild food plants and other diverse cultivated crops. Indigenouspeoples, particularly the women, are developing and diversifying the ricevarieties they plant and are working harder to increase soil fertility throughthe practice of rotational agriculture, composting and use of organic fer-tilizers and nitrogen-fixing crops like legumes.

2.38. By protecting and sustainably managing the forests and ensuring soilfertility through organic methods, indigenous peoples who still persist indoing traditional agriculture and agroforestry practices are contributingsignificantly to mitigation. There is a need to enhance and replicate theseindigenous systems and practices, wherever these are appropriate, andto protect and respect the land, resource and territorial rights of indig-enous peoples because these are key factors in increasing their contri-butions to solution of the climate change crisis.

2.39. Rotational agriculture or swidden or shifting cultivation is an indigenousagricultural practice embedded with complex and sophisticated systemsof resource management and knowledge of land use and cultivation, soiltypes and fertility and climatic variations. Indigenous small-scale holderagriculturists who live in harsh and fragile ecosystems practice multiplecropping and hardly use any chemical inputs in their farms. Green ma-nure, crop rotation, composting, fallow periods and agroforestry increasethe production of biomass and enhance soil fertility and organic mattercontent. Thus, the capacity of soil to sequester carbon is further in-creased. Scientists claim that soils contain 75 per cent of terrestrialcarbon. Most Asian indigenous peoples who live in mountains, tropical

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forests and hills practice rotational agriculture and this has ensured theirsurvival for generations. Aside from conserving biological diversity, theseagroecosystems are also the basis for the diverse cultures of indigenouspeoples. Many indigenous crops are culture crops. Most of the tradi-tional rituals of indigenous peoples are linked with the agricultural cyclelinked with these crops.

2.40. Among the Jagoi in Sarawak, Malaysia, for example, their cosmovisionacknowledges one source of all life, God or Topak, who brought forththe entire world composed of the seen and the unseen. Spirits (ieng) livein the forests and fields and humans interact with them daily. The ricespirit (ieng Podi) ensures good harvests. The Ifugao in the Philippinesalso have the rice god and goddess (bulul) Twhich watch over the wholecycle of rice production. There are prescribed set of rituals and tabooslinked with the different cycles of rice farming. These have to be done toensure that the connections between rice spirits and gods/goddessesare not cut. For most indigenous peoples all acts of nature are influ-enced by the spirit world, the ancestors and the deities and any naturalphenomena such as typhoons, earthquakes, etc. are responses andretributions to human actions. Respect for the ancestors, gods/goddessesand the spirits and good behaviour of humans are rewarded by goodharvests, well-being and environmental balance. Actions which disturb ordisrespect them will upset the harmonious relationships and balancewhich will then be punished with destructive events. Cultural rituals, there-fore, are acts to placate and propitiate the spirits, ancestors and gods/goddesses.

2.41. The indigenous peoples worldviews or cosmovisions include explana-tions and their understanding of climate change. Underpinning theseindigenous worldviews is the belief that for every action there is an equaland opposite reaction and this is the philosophical basis for the respon-sible stewardship of indigenous peoples over the environment. Indig-enous values of collectivity and collective sharing of work and burdens,custodianship over the gifts of nature for the future generations, reci-procity, among others are what has been taught to us by our ancestorsfor transmission to the young. Part of indigenous peoples’ knowledgeincludes their interpretation of omens and designation of indicators ormarkers which are used as guides on when they should start planting,whether they will go to the fields or forests or stay at home, etc. Forinstance, the migration of birds to the community indicates that theseason to start planting has come. Among the Kankana-ey, there is theik-ik season when flocks of birds arrive in the villages signalling that theplanting season will start. With the climate variability, however, the timeof migration is shifting away from the usual period.

2.42. Some examples of indigenous rituals are those performed by the Jagoiin Malaysia and the Kankana-ey Igorot of the Philippines. The GaweaPinganga is done by Jagoi when rains fall during the burning of the forest

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undergrowth. This is an act of penance to plead to the spirits to stop therain. The Kankana-ey perform begnas before transplanting the rice seed-lings, during planting, during weeding time and after harvesting. The begnasis a community activity and every household has to participate as anubaya (holiday) is declared and people are not allowed to leave nor enterthe community when these are done. The gongs are played and peopledance for the whole day and night. These community rituals are not onlydone to express thanks to Tapol, gods/goddesses, spirits and ances-tors and to placate the spirits who have been displeased with humanactions.These strengthen cultural identity and community relations andsolidarity as well as to emphasize the imperative of shared responsibilityamongst the village members.

2.43. In addition to their swidden farms, indigenous peoples’ communities inSoutheast and South Asia also maintain home gardens. These are gar-dens found near their houses which are planted with crops for food, fod-der, medicinal plants, spices, fruit trees and ornamental plants. House-hold wastes and animal manure are used to fertilize these gardens. It isestimated that 30 to 100 species of plants are found in these homegardens. Drought-tolerant crops like sweet potato, cassava, millet, sor-ghum, beans, pigeon peas and chickpeas, etc. are planted in thesehome gardens. These home gardens are planted with vegetables andfruits which are used for daily consumption and if there surpluses forcash generation. Aside from the contributions of such gardens to subsis-tence and to mitigation these also contribute to adaptation and are sourcesof resilience of indigenous peoples to climate change.

2.44. To ensure sustainability of harvests, especially in ricefields, indigenouspeoples have developed and continue to practice their own water man-agement and distribution systems. There are existing indigenous peoples’communal irrigation systems like the lampisa among the Kankana-eyIgorot of the Philippines, the subak among the indigenous peoples inTabanan District in Bali, Indonesia, which are still practiced up to now.Irrigation water for the rice fields is distributed equitably to ensure thateach rice field gets enough water. Among the Kankana-ey, each house-hold has a day in the month to go to the source of water and ensure thatthis is distributed equitably. They have to know which canal is goingwhere, and when and where to divert the water. In Tabanan they have avillage irrigation committee which is assigned with the task of distribut-ing the water. In both these systems inability to perform one’s assign-ment means sanctions in the form of fines. It goes without saying thatthe watersheds need to be protected to ensure continuous water supply.Watershed management which is closely linked with forest manage-ment is also regulated by customary laws and governance systems.With climate change the integrated management of the ecosystem (eco-system approach) becomes even more important and relevant.

2.45. The continuing practice of traditional agro-forestry management sys-

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tems, like the muyong among the Ifugao, the lapat among the Tingguianin Abra and the batangan among Kankana-ey-Igorot in Mountain Prov-ince, all in the Cordillera region in the Philippines, ensured the protec-tion of their forests and the conservation of biological diversity. Thesesystems are accompanied by customary laws and governance mecha-nisms which underpin the workings of these systems. Rituals are regu-larly performed to appease the spirits and deities in the forests. Theindigenous peoples in Cambodia whose ancesral lands are in Ratanakiriand Mondulkiri, have a part of their forests which they call spirit forests.This is where the spirits reside and it is a taboo to cut and destroythese. Indigenous peoples’ traditional agro-forestry practices contributeto soil fertility and prevention of soil erosion, increase of vegetative coverand watershed development and protection.

2.46. In Bangladesh, in spite of the fact that the indigenous peoples in theChittagong Hill Tracts have lost access to their forests because of gov-ernment policies, they managed to devise new sustainable forest man-agement practices which are still largely based on their traditional knowl-edge and practices. They formed Village Common Forests (VCF) underthe leadership of the Mouza Headmen and managed by the villagers. Thecase study done in Monglechan Karbari para showed that from an areaof 20 acres the villagers managed to expand the forest to 100 acres.They planted diverse trees which now are crucial for watershed manage-ment, biodiversity conservation, source of biomass, and bamboos forconstruction of houses and temples.

2.47. Again, in Bangladesh, indigenous peoples have adapted over genera-tions to the risks of floods, drought and cyclones. They have raised theirhomes on mounds above the normal flood levels and they adjust theiragricultural patterns to take advantage of flood waters. They breed andgrow a wide range of rice varieties and other crops to be planted in accor-dance with the recession of floods and the length of droughts. They try totake part and use government programmes such as cyclone sheltersand shelters from river floods for environmental refugees, coastal em-bankment projects designed to raise productivity to prevent tidal floodingand salinization of the soil, and flood management schemes and disas-ter management projects. However, many of these projects hardly reachthe indigenous peoples communities, even those who are near coastalareas.

2.48. Due to the scarcity of water, the Jumma of Bangladesh devised the godhaand thagalok systems to hold rainwater and seepage water for irrigationand household use. The ghoda is a cross dam, made of earth, bambooand wood, which is constructed between two hills to store water forirrigation. Water from the godha is brought to the fields by using bam-boos. The thagalok is a bamboo pitch which courses seepage waterfrom the rocky hill slopes. This water is collected in an earthen pitcher

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called kum and this is used for drinking purposes. Vegetation on theupper slopes is carefully maintained to ensure that the water is cool andclean.

2.49. The case studies and presentations from Indonesia, the Philippines, Nepal,India and Thailand presented how indigenous peoples used various mod-ern methods to ensure better control over their forests. In the case of theIkalahan of Nueva Vizcaya in the Philippines, they used the CommunityForestry Stewardship Act (CFSA) to assert their claim over their forestsas early as 1974. When the Philippine Indigenous Peoples’ Rights Actwas passed in l997, they moved towards having this converted into aCertificate of Ancestral Domain Title (CADT) which they got recently. Interms of mitigating and adapting to climate change, the Ikalahan con-tinue to do their traditional and innovative agroforestry management sys-tems which includes the use of gen-gen (organic fertilizers), day-og,pangomis (inter-cropping and fallow periods) and gaik (firelines). Theydevised their own Forest Improvement Technology (FIT). They run a foodprocessing unit where they sell harvested fruits from their productionforests to generate cash for their basic needs. The community membersare encouraged and supported to continue their organic farming meth-ods.

2.50. They use traditional pesticides such as panawel and other plants. Theyalso practice mutual labor exchange called amuyo and bataris in orderto finish their agricultural work in time without paying cash for labour. TheIkalahans have a sophisticated system of forest management where theydelineated the forests into different functions. They divided the forestsinto conservation forests, forests where people can get wood for buildingtheir houses and where they can gather non-timber forest products andthere is another part that is segregated for environmental services whichthey will consider for carbon trading. They have signed an agreementwith a middleman, Mitsubishi Corporation.

2.51. The Tagbanua of Coron, Palawan also in the Philippines also were thefirst indigenous peoples who secured a Certificate of Ancestral DomainTitle (CADT) over their ancestral land and waters. This struggle has takenmany years since the early 1960s and they have used existing nationallaws to stake their ancestral land claims. The main indigenous peoples’organization involved in this is the Tagbanua Foundation of Coron Island(TFCI) which has obtained the Certificate of Ancestral Domain Claim(CADC) No. 134 in June 5, 1998. This was converted into a Certificate ofAncestral Domain Title in Feb. 2004. It covers 22,284 hectares of thesea and this has the distinction of being the first ancestral waters claimever granted in the Philippines. The security of tenure over their landsand waters have strengthened the possibilities and actions they are tak-ing to mitigate and adapt to climate change. The Calamian Tagbanuaancestral waters include sacred areas, ancestral fishing grounds, fish

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sanctuaries, diving areas, tidal flats, sand shoals, atolls, and deep seaareas around Coron and Delian Islands.

2.52. Every member of the tribe is allowed access to these resources (includ-ing cliffs of the island, the valleys, the lakes, the rivers as well as themangroves) for as long as these are mainly for subsistence use andgeneration of little cash. Forest resources, both mangrove forests andtropical rainforests, are communally owned and are governed by strictcustomary laws, e.g., prohibition of cutting trees near streams, springs,wells and the coast, fishing not allowed in parts of the sea delineated assacred waters, etc. The Tagbanua recognize the value of their water-sheds and thus regulate the use of the forests. They protect the man-grove forests which is part of their ecosystem. The Tagbanua have alsotraditionally practiced swidden farming but in a very limited scale. Theirefforts to rehabilitate the coral reefs and mangrove forests have broughtback fish species which disappeared due to overfishing by big trawlersowned by Japanese and other rich Filipinos. While they have developeda very sophisticated Ancestral Domain Sustainable Development andProtection Plan (ADSDPP), there is a lack of financial support for this tobe implemented. They are appealing to donors to provide supportfor the community to implement their plan so they can strengthenfurther their contributions to climate change mitigation as well asmeet their basic needs.

2.53. In Menua Sungai Utik in West Kalimantan in Indonesia, the indigenouspeoples fought for the protection of their tropical forests which is home tothem, since time immemorial.They have stopped the forest industry fromtotally destroying their forests. They maintained the purity of the watersof their rivers and they consider this as a major indicator of the well-being of the peoples, the flora and fauna and the whole ecosystem. If thewater is clean their children will not get sick, their animals (wild anddomesticated) are well and food security and water security is ensured.They believe that for as long as outsiders do not come to disturb theirrelationships amongst themselves and between them and nature, theyare rich and do not need the World Bank nor any foreign assistance tocontinue to survive. Because they have been successful in protectingtheir forests, they managed to get the Indonesian government to givethem a Certificate of Forest Stewardship. Unfortunately, there is no placeto lodge this instrument in the governmental system of Indonesia. Theysee the need to reform the government system so that their rights totheir forests can be further secured. The law on forests which respectcustomary rights to forests does not adequately protect their rightsso they see the need to have this reformed to explicity provide forbetter respect and protection of indigenous peoples’ rights to theirforests and the resources found therein. The summit supportedthese demands and recommended that the Indonesian govern-ment undertakes a thorough review of their laws, policies and

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mechanisms on protecting rights of indigenous peoples and otherforest peoples to their forests and to do the reforms needed andasked for by these peoples.

2.54. One village which was visited by the participants is Serangan in Denpasar,Bali, Indonesia. This is a good example of how indigenous peoples areadapting and mitigating climate change. Indonesia has 50,000 squarekilometers of coral reefs but many of these are deteriorating because of“bleaching” due to the warming of the seas. The indigenous peoples inSerangan were very proud to show how they are rehabilitating their coralreefs and mangrove forests and how they are generating cash from these.They managed to plant 15,000 pieces of corals from 22 indigenous spe-cies from coral colonies in various parts of Indonesia. They mentionedanother village called Les which is also involved in a similar project butthey have started much earlier in 2002.The indigenous peoples of Lesstopped doing cyanide and dynamite fishing so they can rehabilitatetheir coral ecosystems. They now have managed to bring back orna-mental fish which feed on these corals. This is managed by a collectiveof 90 families who are exporting to nine countries in Asia, Europe and theUnited States. The Serangan project is buying some of the fish from Lesand they package these together with their corals and also export these.According to the project coordinator of the project, with the economiccrisis, they are getting more orders as people who cannot travel any-more opt to buy the corals and fishes and put these in their aquariums.According to him the UNDP GEF-Small Grants (UNDP-GEF-SG) sup-ported them briefly but this support has now ended and they are lookingfor new donors who can help them expand the project further.

2.55. Predicting and coping with disasters are additional adaptation measuresdone by indigenous peoples. Participants shared the key hazards fromclimate change which include increased frequency and occurrence oftyphoons,cyclones and tropical storms, inland and coastal flooding anddroughts, king tides, massive landslides and extensive forest fires. Theneed to adapt to present climate variability as a first step towards ad-dressing future climate change was stressed. The past experiences ofindigenous peoples in coping with disasters, despite the inadequacy ofgovernment and private relief and rehabilitation services, can be sourcesof lessons for the future. The State has to formulate concrete riskreduction and multi-sectoral approaches, jointly with indigenouspeoples and others, to manage and integrate climate change im-plications for disaster control and management. Climate changeconcerns need to become part and parcel of any comprehensivedisaster management agenda. Indigenous peoples’ traditionalknowledge in predicting and managing disasters and extremeweather events can be further researched so these can form partof national, regional and global disaster management approaches.

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2.56. Recommendations on how to enhance the capacities of indigenouspeoples to cope with disasters were discussed. Activities which allow forsharing and development of successful relief and rehabilitation and riskmanagement plans, policies and projects for floods, drought, relocationand evacuation; and the setting up of early warning systems should bedone and States and the International Community should play key rolesin doing these. The example of the indigenous peoples in the Andamanand Nicobar Islands in India was referred to as they were the ones whosurvived the tsunami in 2006 because they still retained the knowledgepassed to them by their ancestors on how to interpret the behaviour ofthe sea. When they saw the sea recede, they knew that there will be atsunami which will follow, so they moved up to higher ground early enoughto escape this.

2.57. How indigenous peoples can adapt and mitigate in the area of renewableenergy were shared and discussed. These include building small-scale,locally-controlled renewable energy sources, such as micro-hydroelec-tric power plants, solar power, windmills, use of biomass (e.g., rice husks,sawmill dust, cow dung, etc.) for cooking fuel, methane gas capturedfrom piggeries, etc. They have also developed some technologies whichare more environmentally friendly, like cooking stoves which use biom-ass. Examples of such locally-controlled renewable energy projects doneIn Malaysia, Philippines, Indonesia, Nepal and India were shared. Mostof these were done with the support of local and foreign NGOs and alsobe indigenous peoples’ organizations, themselves. In some countries,there was some government support. There was no example cited, how-ever, on any project supported by the UNFCCC funds.

2.58. There is a proposal that indigenous peoples should be helped to accessadaptation and mitigation finance from the UNFCCC and other bilateraland multilateral sources. Such funds should not just go to the govern-ments but some can be provided directly to indigenous communitieswho are already doing something and who want to upscale or replicatetheir mitigation and adaptation processes. The Summit agreed that in-digenous peoples should lobby for this and also work towards beinggiven a seat in the Adaptation Fund Board so that they can influence theway these funds are going to be used. Mitigation funds should also beprovided to them as they already have contributed significantly to mitiga-tion and are still contributing.

2.59. The Summit participants reiterated that the bigger responsibility for miti-gating GHGs should still remain with the Annex 1 countries. In no wayshould they pass the burden to the developing countries nor to the mostvulnerable peoples and sectors. Annex I countries should not allowed tobuy themselves out of their legally binding commitments and shouldensure that the actual emissions cut are coming mainly from within theirown countries. Therefore credits earned from CDM, Joint Implementationand Emissions Trading (Kyoto Protocol) should be additional or a re-

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stricted percentage of their reductions. This means that there should begenuine efforts to drastically change their unsustainable production andconsumption patterns and the monitoring, verification and reporting onthese efforts and the results should also be done. Furthermore, the Summitparticipants supported the call that climate finance should not be takenfrom the 0.7 per cent of the Official Development Assistance (ODA) com-mitment of the countries belonging to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Climate finance should be addi-tional to the 0.7 per cent commitment they made.

2.60. Whatever contributions indigenous peoples provide to mitigation shouldbe recognised and rewarded by Annex 1 countries not just through fundsbut more importantly by respecting their rights to lands, territories andresources, the right to self-determination, including the right to self-de-termined economic, social and cultural development and the right tosubsistence and to their traditional livelihoods. This also includes theright to have their free, prior and informed consent before any project isdesigned or implemented in our territories.

2.61. The Summit participants assert that the UN Declaration on the Rightsof Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) should be the overall framework whichwill guide the States and other actors in designing and implementingsolutions to climate change when these directly affect indigenouspeoples. UNDRIP interprets how international human rights law shouldbe implemented amongst indigenous peoples considering the historicalcircumstances of colonization and continuing discrimination againstthem.

2.62. The Summit observed that the UNFCCC does not deal with the issue ofsocial and environmental justice. The climate change problem is seenprimarily as a technical and methodological problem. Reducing emis-sions is the primary focus of the UNFCCC. However the Convention isclear that it also has the goal of achieving sustainable development.Indigenous peoples support these twin goals of cutting back greenhousegas emissions and achieving sustainable development. But for these tobe relevant and meaningful for us social and environmental justice andhuman rights should be guiding frameworks for achieving these goals.The ecological debt of the rich nations in bringing about the problem ofclimate change should be paid through the provision of finance and en-vironmentally-sustainable technology for poorer countries and the mostvulnerable sectors of people within the rich and poor countries.

2.63. Since indigenous peoples are very vulnerable but at the same time haveprovided significant contributions to mitigating climate change, they shouldbe rewarded and compensated not only with finance and technologiesbut also by reforming policies, laws and programmes which have dis-criminated against their sustainable practices and livelihoods. The futureagreements of the UNFCCC should rectify its blindness to human rights

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and indigenous peoples’ rights and recognize and include the UNDRIPin the future climate agreements. Indigenous peoples’ basic rights totheir lands, territories and resources rights and the right to free, prior andinformed consent, and to self-determination should be recognized sothey can continue to contribute to the solutions for climate change.

2.64. The need for a human-rights based approach for climate change solu-tions has already been recommended in the 2008 report of the UNPFIIon the “Impact of climate change mitigation measures on IndigenousPeoples and on their lands and territories.”13 This is further reiterated inthe 2009 report of the UN Human Rights Council on “Climate change andhuman rights.” The Summit agreed that a human-rights based approachand the ecosystem approach should be taken on board by the Partiesto the UNFCCC as a pathway towards addressing climate change. Astatement on this was agreed upon in the final plenary and this wassent and read before the Human Rights Council (Please see Annex 3).

2.65. The Summit agreed that indigenous peoples’ full and effective engage-ment with the UNFCCC processes must be enhanced. While the UNFCCCdecision making processes are less friendly to non-state actors com-pared with other processes like the Convention on Biological Diversity,indigenous peoples should persist in pushing for better participation.Even at the national level, the processes and spaces related to climatechange are not inclusive of indigenous peoples. Indigenous peoples shouldengage with national mechanisms addressing climate change set up bythe governments or the ministries which are assigned to deal with cli-mate change. It was recognized that many forestry ministries and de-partments are often highly centralized and are resistant to the idea ofobtaining the free, prior and informed consent of indigenous peoples be-fore their forests are used.

2.66. At the global and national levels, there is also resistance to the propos-als to include indigenous peoples’ rights or the UNDRIP in the agree-ments in Copenhagen. Those who took part in the 2008 COP14 in Poznan,Poland witnessed the way New Zealand, the US and Canada thwartedany attempt to bring in UNDRIP and FPIC into the negotiated docu-ments. The indigenous peoples from these States should be asked toplay more active roles in influencing the governments so that they willnot hold hostage the whole Conference of Parties to their regressivepositions.

2.67. The global and national attention to climate change should be used asan opportunity to question and critique the dominant development para-digm which has led to this problem and to the global economic down-turn. It is the best time to push for indigenous peoples’ own path andapproach to self-determined development. It also provides indigenouspeoples the chance to lobby and insist on their democratic right to fulland effective participation in processes and mechanisms where deci-

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sions are made that affect them. As forests are assigned key roles inclimate change mitigation, it is particularly important for indigenouspeoples who live and depend on forests to influence these policies andactivities.

2.68. There was a vibrant discussion on emissions trading, as there aresome indigenous peoples who are of the view that emissions tradingand market mechanisms should not be supported by indigenous peoplesas mechanisms to address climate change. The points raised againstemissions trading and the market are that by engaging in these, indig-enous peoples are allowing their forests to be commercialized and to bevalued only in terms of carbon. These can undermine the wholistic wayin which they look at the multifunctionality of forests. Emissions tradingcan further shift the burden of mitigation to the developing countries andto indigenous peoples. It was, however, recognized by the Summit thatthere are indigenous peoples who are involved with emissions trading,and that a regional forum is not the right body to pronounce on the rightsor wrongs of a matter subject to the self-determination of the peoplesconcerned. The challenge is for indigenous peoples to look into the situ-ation of indigenous communities involved in carbon trading. The Summitcan help document the various cases to see where the weaknesses areand see whether there are positive benefits and impacts for the commu-nities. These researches can look into how the agreements were reached,whether their FPIC was obtained properly and whether satisfactory mecha-nisms for benefit sharing are in place.

2.69. Concern was expressed about how the issues of REDD, emissionstrading, CDM and the market are being used to divide indigenous peoples’communities and organizations, not only in Asia but in other parts of theworld. Perhaps, indigenous peoples should focus more on the condi-tions upon which they are engaging and what is being offered to them asbenefits from carbon trading partners. The Summit agreed that thereshould be conscious efforts to combat the attempts by some NGOsand some individuals from institutions like the World Bank to pit oneindigenous peoples’ organisation against the other. Indigenous peoplesare aware that some NGOs and IPOs have already taken the positionthat the Kyoto Protocol is flawed and that emissions trading is wrong,and should be rejected and done away with in the 15th Conference ofParties in Copenhagen. Some NGOs are actively influencing indigenouspeoples to gain support for their positions, and in the process, are divid-ing indigenous peoples amongst themselves. Such actions to divide andfoment conflict amongst indigenous peoples are unacceptable. In Asia,there are indigenous peoples who are already engaged with the carbonmarket and who are willing to explore and engage with REDD. Effortsneed to focus on enhancing the capacities of indigenous organizationsand communities to understand the issues, and to exercise their rightsto self-determined development, including the right to FPIC. Perhaps,indigenous peoples should focus instead on the conditions under which

27

they are engaging and what is being offered to them as benefits from thecarbon trading projects. What are the agreements and terms of tradewhich were reached between the different partners? Participants urgeda practical approach towards promoting understanding about emissionstrading, the market,CDM and REDD.

2.70. The recommendation on how to deal with this is to discuss this issueamongst indigenous peoples, discuss the pros and cons and let theircommunities make the final decision on how to address this. The Sum-mit should respect the right of self-determination of indigenous peoplesand internalize and operationalize this amongst themselves. Indigenouspeoples cannot say that they respect the right of self-determination andthen condemn indigenous communities who have decided to engage inemissions trading or REDD after having been appraised of the possibleconsequences of engaging in this. If there are weaknesses in the deci-sion-making processes and it comes out that the State or corporationshave not obtained their free, prior and informed consent before involvingthem, then it is the responsibility of indigenous peoples to expose theseand help rectify the situation.

2.71. The Summit agreed that it was not the appropriate body to recommendnational and local action for REDD or against REDD, but that minimuminternational standards and conditions were needed to ensure socialand environmental benefits. The participants believe that the decisionsshould be made by the communities who are being targeted to be en-gaged in these processes. The Summit’s responsibility as representa-tives of their own organizations and communities is to gather the bestinformation, educate and raise awareness amongst the people on therisks and opportunities related to these and help create more spaces forthem to participate in making decisions.

2.72. Finally, the Summit participants agreed that they will establish an AsiaIndigenous Peoples’ Network on Climate Change and the membersof this will be the Summit participants and additional ones who will ex-press their desire to become members. The indigenous peoples organi-zations from the different countries will appoint their country focal per-son. There will be two focal persons from each country, except for Indiawho will have four - two from the Northeast and two from Central India.The first person is the main focal person and the second one is thealternate focal person. The mandate of this body is to coordinate theactivities regarding climate change at the regional and global level. It willact as the Asian regional caucus in the Global Caucus or the IndigenousPeoples Forum on Climate Change (IFPCC). It was agreed that the cau-cus will recommend to the IFPCC that regional caucuses should also beestablished so that they can deliberate on the actions and positions tobe presented to the IFPCC.

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3. STRATEGIES AND THE ROADMAP TO COPENHAGEN AND BEYOND

GOALS STRATEGIES AND ACTIVITIES

1. Raise level of awareness of indigenous peoples in Asia on climate change and the UNFCCC.

1.1. Undertake awareness raising and education activities on climate change and on the state of negotiations in the UNFCCC as well the National Policies and programmes on climate change.

1.2. Develop popular multimedia education and training materials on climate change, translate in major languages spoken in Asia and disseminate widely.

1.3. Develop a media strategy so that issues of indigenous peoples on climate change will be popularized.

1.4. Develop a core of trainors on climate change and indigenous peoples who will be available for awareness and training activities.

1.5. Link the implementation of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples with climate change policies and actions.

1.6. Train indigenous peoples to fully understand the UNDRIP and its linkages with climate change.

2. Document

impacts of climate change on indigenous peoples and local mitigation and adaptation measures taken by them.

2.1. Carry out field research on the situation of indigenous peoples affected by climate change and their responses to these and disseminate these widely.

2.2. Train indigenous researchers to undertake these research projects.

2.3. Make audio and video documentation of stories of indigenous peoples affected by climate change and their adaptation and mitigation activities and disseminate these.

2.4. Come up with books on these stories and explore how such research results can enter into the IPCC reports and other reports of relevant bodies.

2.4. Mobilize financial and human resources to support these activities.

29

3. Support campaigns of indigenous peoples against projects and policies which worsen climate change and which violate rights of indigenous peoples and for the implementa-tion of the UNDRIP.

3.1. Monitor government and corporate activities related to climate change, document and disseminate these to indigenous peoples.

3.2. Support efforts and struggles of indigenous peoples against deforestation, logging and monoculture plantations and against extraction of oil, gas, coal, uranium in their territories.

3.3. Urge the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank and other international financial institutions as well as the Equator Banks to abide by their safeguard policies on indigenous peoples to ensure that indigenous peoples' rights are not violated by projects supported by loans and grants from these institutions.

3.4. Urge these same institutions to implement the recommendations from the World Commission on Dams and the Extractive Industries Review in terms of respecting the free, prior and informed consent of indigenous peoples.

3.5. Ensure that the WB funding under the FCPF, FIP and CIP, among others, will abide by the UNDRIP and will provide positions in their decision making bodies for indigenous representatives to take part.

3.6. Develop guides on the implementation of the UNDRIP as this relates with climate change policies, projects and activities.

4. Enhance the capacities of indigenous peoples to mitigate and adapt to climate change and to implement their self-determined develop-ment.

4.1. Mobilize technical assistance and funds to support adaptation measures of indigenous peoples which include breeding of crops which are resistant to droughts and floods, disaster preparedness and management, locally controlled renewable energy projects, diversification of livelihoods, etc. and to support their mitigation measures.

4.2. Develop and disseminate information through booklets, posters, multimedia resources, including series of workshops on Climate Change Issues and the UNDRIP, e.g., translation of Tebtebba book (Guide to Climate Change and Indigenous Peoples), guides on how and where to access funds for adaptation and mitigation.

4.3. Promote exchange visits amongst indigenous peoples so they can learn more about how others are coping with climate change.

4.4. Strengthen indigenous peoples' community-based conservation, resource management, and sustainable use practices which are consistent with reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (redd).

30

4.5. Support indigenous peoples' efforts to carry out their self-determined economic, social and cultural development and continue their traditional livelihoods which are low-carbon and carbon neutral.

4.6. For those who opt to engage with REDD, help strengthen their organizations and their communities by developing guides, raising with them the opportunities and risks and disseminating widely the information they need to be able to benefit from these projects.

4.7. Gather support from various UN agencies, programmes and funds and from other multilateral bodies to reinforce self-determined development of indigenous peoples.

5. Enhance the

capacities of indigenous peoples to influence national and global processes and decisions on climate change and to implement their self-determined economic, social and cultural develop-ment.

5.1. Support and prepare indigenous activists and leaders to participate in international and national processes on climate change so that they will have direct involvements in negotiations and will get their voices heard.

5.2. Compose and train a core of indigenous activists and leaders who can participate consistently in the processes leading to Copenhagen and activities beyond Copenhagen.

5.3. Disseminate timely information on the various processes to familiarize the indigenous peoples on what is happening.

5.4. Jointly develop briefing papers, policy papers to be submitted to the Secretariat of the UNFCCC and also to national governments on the issues being negotiated.

5.5. Jointly develop with UN agencies, programmes and funds and other NGOs legal briefs and reviews of negotiating texts in so far as these promote the rights and development of indigenous peoples.

5.6. Make the Asia Indigenous Peoples' Network on Climate Change operational and functional and ensure that it does the following:

Facilitate further exchange of information and sharing of experiences in self-determined development using multimedia

Promote exchange visits between indigenous peoples.

Prepare strategic plans for regional and global cooperation; Coordinate the Asia indigenous peoples'

regional caucus during the UNFCCC processes.

Facilitate meetings of indigenous peoples

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with Parties to the UNFCCC and promote dialogues on crucial issues.

Generate resources to enable indigenous persons to attend the various processes.

Develop and coordinate advocacy and lobby plans and activities to push for indigenous peoples rights and development in climate change processes, policies and programs at local, national, regional and global levels.

5.7. Develop healthy and respectful relationships with NGOs and other civil society organizations and undertake joint and coordinated actions at the national and global levels.

4. IMPORTANT DATES AND EVENTS IN 2009

29 March - 8 April 2009

AWG-LCA 5/AWG-KP 7 Bonn, Germany

20-24 April 2009 Global Summit on Climate Change and Indigenous Peoples

Alaska, USA

18-29 May 2009 8th Session of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues

New York, USA

1-12 June 2009 AWG-LCA 6/AWG-KP 8/ SBI and SBSTA 30

Bonn, Germany

4-10 August 2009 Informal Meetings of AWG-LCA and AWG-KP

Bonn, Germany

28 Sept.-9 Oct. 2009

AWG-LCA 7 / AWG-KP 9 Bangkok, Thailand

2-6 November 2009 Resumed Session of AWG-LCA 7 / AWG-KP 9

To be announced

7-18 Dec. 2009 COP 15 / COP-MOP 5 Copenhagen, Denmark

32

1 The detailed Programme of Work is included as Annex 2.2 There were seven case studies done at the local level in these countries;

Bangladesh, Indonesia, India, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines and Viet Nam. Otherindigenous representatives from Nepal, Taiwan, Thailand and Cambodia also pre-sented the situations of indigenous peoples in their countries in relation to climatechange.

3 This is from the Case Study done on Bangladesh which was prepared by MALEYAFoundation.

4 The data on Vietnam was taken from the Case Study on Vietnam. “IndigenousPeoples’ Local Mitigation and Adaptation Measures to Address Climate Change: A casefrom Kep A Village, Minh Son Commune, Bac Me District, Ha Gian Province.” Theresearcher is Cao Phan Viet from the Centre for Sustainable Mountain Development inMountainous Areas (CSDM).

5 These are cited in the case study done by Jenifer Rubis of the IndigenousPeoples’ Network of Malaysia (JOAS). This is called “Understanding the Interactionsbetween Global Climate Change and Traditional Lifestyle Initiatives of IndigenousPeoples of Malaysia: A Bidayuh-Jagoi Case Study.” This is part of the research commis-sioned for the Summit and this will be published soon.

6 Kelkar, Govind, 2009. A study on “Adivasi Women: Engaging with ClimateChange,” soon to be published by UNIFEM and IFAD.

7 Rosa T. Perez, “Assessment of Vulnerability and Adaptation to Climate Change inthe Philippines Coastal Resources Sector.” accessed 12 January 2008 available fromhttp://www. survas.wdx.ac.uk/pdfs/3 perez.pdf: Internet. This is quoted in the Case Studydone in the Philippines by Helen Magata, Leah Enkiwe-Abayao, Jo Ann Guillao andMikara Jubay.

8 See UN Document E/C.19/CRP 6. Tauli-Corpuz, Victoria and Parshuram Tamang,“Oil Palm Plantations and Other Commercial Tree Plantations, Monocropping: Impactson Indigenous Peoples’ Land Tenure and Resource Management Systems andLivelihoods.” 7 May 2007, UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues.

9 This information was taken from the “Pocket Guide on Reducing Emissions fromDeforestation and Forest Degradation in Developing Countries: A Guide for IndigenousPeoples.” 2008. UNU-IAS. p. 89-90. This was written by Ingrid Barnsley for the UNUniversity Institute of Advanced Studies (UNU-IAS), UNDP and Tebtebba.

10 Rubis, 2009.11 See International Rivers Network study “Dirty Hydro: Dams and Greenhouse Gas

Emissions,” Nov. 2008.12 See “40 MW Yangnyu H.E. (sic) Project Nagaland: Pre-feasibilty report 2004."

Prepared by the Government of India Ministry of Power Central Electricy Authority. p. 13.13 See Tauli-Corpuz, Victoria and Aqaluk Lynge, UN Doc. E/C.19/2008/10. “Impact of

climate change mitigation measures on indigenous peoples and their lands andterritories.” 19 March 2008.

Endnotes

33

5. ANNEXES

Annex 1: List of ParticipantsName Organization IP Group Country Email

1 Ms. Joan Carling AIPP Kankanaey Philippines joan@aippnet.org

2 Ms. Mrinalini Rai AIPP Kirant India mrinalini.rai@gmail.com

3 Mr. Nima Lama Nepal Federation of Indigenous Nationalities (NEFIN)

Yolmo Nepal nima.lama@gmail.com

4 Mr. Diweng Anak Bakir

Building initiatives in Indigeous Herritage (BiiH)

Bidayuh Malaysia diweng@gmail.com

5 Ms. Jennifer Theresa Rubis

Jaringan Orang Asal SeMalaysia (JOAS)

Bidayuh Malaysia jennaiel@gmail.com

6 Ms. Keisha Marigold Mareng

Indigenous National Women Union of ManipurI

Naga India k.marigold@yahoo.co.in

7 Ms. Afia Biak Hta Dim

Ministry of Science and Technology

Chin Burma dimdim301@gmail.com

8 Ms. Victoria Tauli-Corpuz

Tebtebba/UNPFII Kankanaey Philippines vicky@tebtebba.org

9 Ms. Helen Magata

Tebtebba Kankanaey Philippines len@tebtebba.org

10 Ms. Joji Carino Tebtebba Ibaloi Philippines joji@tebtebba.org, tongtong@gn.apc.org

34

11 Dr. Krishna Bhattachan

Nepal Federation of Indigenous Nationalities

Thakali Nepal kchan@wlink.com.np

12 Mr. Kittisak Rattanakrajangsri

Indigenous Peoples' Foundation for Education and Environment (IPF)

Mien Thailand kittisak@thai-ips.org

13 Mr. Aekkasit Somnual

IMPECT Shan Thailand sit_somnoun@hotmail.com

14 Ms. Nittaya Wisetkantrakorn

Indigenous Knowledge and Peoples

Hmong Thailand secretariat@ikap-mmsea.org

15 Mr. Prawit Nikorn-uaychai

CMLN Thailand Karen Thailand prawit05@gmail.com

16 Mr. Joseph Ole Simmel

Mainyoito Pastoralist Integrated Development Organization

Maasai Kenya jolesimel2002@yahoo.co.uk

17 Mr. Nok Ven Cambodia Indigenous Youth Association

Bunong Cambodia nokven.ipunciya@gmail.com

18 Ms. Dam Chanthy

Highlander Association – Rattanakiri Province

Tambuan Cambodia

19 Ms. Zhao Xue Mei

Yulong Culture and Gender Research Center

Naxi China snowplum0810@126.com

20 Mr. Nguyen Ngoc Nhi

Center for Sustainable Development in Mountainous Areas

Kinh Vietnam csdmatruong@hn.vnn.vn

21 Ms. Tien Yuan Huei

Association of Taiwanese Indigenous Peoples’ Development(ATIPD)

Paiwan Taiwan muasik0904@yahoo.com.tw

22 Mr. Chen Ming-Yuan

The Association for Taiwan Indigenous Peoples' Policies (ATIPP)

Tsou Taiwan airmarlboro@gmail.com

35

23 Mr. Lam Thai Duong

Center for Sustainable Development in Mountainous Areas

Tay Vietnam togianghagiang@yahoo.com

24 Mr. Chou Yang Tai

Association of Taiwan Kanakanavu Cultural and Economic Development

Kanakanavu Taiwan una.tsou@msa.hinet.net

25 Ms. Suryamani Bhagat

Jharkhand Save the Forest Movement

Uraon India c/o sanjay_samar@hotmail.com

26 Mr. Xavier Kujur Jharkhand Save the Forest Movement

Uraon India xavierkujur_xxx@yahoo.co.in

27 Mr. Tamano Bugtong

Kalahan Educational Foundation

Ikalahan Philippines kalahan2@gmail.com

28 Mr. Datuk Usman Gumanti

Executive Board AMAN Jambi

Sungai Asam Community

Indonesia Cell : +62 81366098967 ;

29 Mr. Alex Sanggenafa

Member of AMAN’s National Council/Coordinator Papua Region

Waropen Indonesia Telp : +62 98331080 ; Cell : +62 81344579124 ; lexsangge60@yahoo.com ; isairirei@yahoo.com

30 Mr. Eliza Kissya Member of AMAN’s National Council/Coordinator Maluku Region

Kewang Negeri Haruku

Indonesia Cell : +62 85243460984

31 Mr. Dewa Nyoman Suardana

Member of AMAN's National Council/Council's Coordinator

Satria Dalem, Bali

Indonesia Cell : +62 8179784040

32 Mr. Sujarni Alloy Secretary General AMAN West Kalimantan

Dayak Kanayatn

Indonesia Cell : +62 81345015531 ; alloy_my@yahoo.com

33 Mr. Matulandi Supit

Executive Board AMAN North Sulawesi

Minahasa Indonesia Cell : +62 8124408927; amasulut@yahoo.com ; kartinitongo@yahoo.com ;

36

34 Mr. Abu Arman Executive Board AMAN South Sumatera

Marga Dawas

Indonesia Cell : +62 811716942 ; penk_sumsel@yahoo.com

35 Mr. Yaman Suryaman

Executive Board AMAN Java

Sunda, Kasepuhan Banten Kidul

Indonesia Cell : +62 81320592274; sumakerti@yahoo.com

36 Mr. Fatra Budiyanto

Executive Board AMAN Riau

Taluk Kuantan

Indonesia Cell : +62 8127525013; fatra@hakikiriau.org

37 Mr. Abdon Nababan

Secretary General AMAN

Batak Toba Indonesia Cell : +62 811111365; abdon.nababan@aman.or.id ; gpakko@indo.net.id

38 Ms. Mina Susana Setra

Director International Advocacy & Foreign Affairs/Secretariat AMAN

Dayak Pompakng

Indonesia Cell : +62 81315119414; minasetra@aman.or.id ; minasetra@yahoo.com

39 Ms. Rukka Sombolinggi

Adviser AMAN Toraja Indonesia Cell : +62 811116558; r.sombolinggi@gmail.com

40 Mr. Concordius Kanyan

Member of AMAN's National Council/Sungai Utik

Dayak Iban Indonesia Cell : +62 816223327; ckanyan@yahoo.com.sg

1 Ms. Sille Stidsen IWGIA Denmark ss@iwgia.org

2 Mr. Serge Marti LifeMosaic UK serge@lifemosaic.net

3 Ms. Gemma Seth-Smith

LifeMosaic UK serge@lifemosaic.net

4 Mr. Geoff Nettleton

PIPLinks UK geoff@piplinks.org

5 Ms. Helen Tugendhat

Forest Peoples Programme

UK helen@forestpeoples.org

6 Ms. Devi Anggraini

DTE Indonesia Taluk Kuantan

Indonesia Cell : +62 8121102500, memame.devi@gmail.com

7 Mr. John Bamba Institut Dayakologi Dayak Jalai Indonesia Cell : +62 81345353536

NGOs/Advocates

37

8 Mr. Arsonetri Yayasan Bahtera Lestari

Java Indonesia Cell : +62 818552440; bahteranusantara@indo.net.id

1 Ms. Chandra Rajkumari Roy

UNDP- Regional Indigenous Peoples' Programme

Chakma Thailand chandra.roy@undp.org

2 Mr. Tomoyuki Undo

UNDP Indonesia

3 Mr. James Warren Evans

Director, Environment Department, World Bank

4 Mr. Gerhard Dieterle

Forests Advisor, Agriculture and Rural Development, World Bank

5 Ms. Haddy Jatou Sey

Social Development Specialist, Environment Department, World Bank

6 Mr. Navin K. Rai Indigenous Peoples Advisor, Social Development Department, World Bank

7 Mr. Josef Leitmann

Environment and Disaster Management Coordinator, IndonesiaCountry Office, World Bank

8 Ms. Mi Hyun Miriam Bae

Social Development Consultant, Social DevelopmentDepartment, World Bank

UN Agencies/Multilateral Bodies

38

9 Mr. Diah Rahardjo

MFP -DFID Indonesia

Indonesia Cell: +62 8129360417 draharjo@kehati.or.id

1 Mr. Bong Corpuz Tebtebba

2 Mr. Raymond de Chavez

Tebtebba

3 Ms. Leah Enkiwe-Abayao

Tebtebba

4 Ms. Rainny Natalia

AMAN

5 Ms. Indah Puji Lestari

AMAN

6 Ms. Mardi Minangsari

AMAN

7 Mr. Nanang Sujana

Gecko Studio

8 Mr. I Nengah Widya Antara

LIMAS Bali

9 Mr. Dahlan "Snik"

AMAN

Support

39

Annex 2: Programme of Work

Objectives:

1. To enable representatives of indigenous peoples to share the results of theresearches they did on the impacts of climate change on indigenous peoplesin their countries and the measures they are taking to adapt to climate changeand to help mitigate climate change.

2. To enhance the understanding and knowledge of indigenous peoples of theissue of climate change, the state of implementation of and the negotiationsat the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)and the 2nd Commitment Period of the Kyoto Protocol.

3. To collectively deliberate on strategies to ensure that indigenous peoples’issues and rights, related to climate change, are taken into consideration byStates Parties to the UNFCCC, multilateral organizations and other actorsinvolved in developing and implementing policies, programs and projects onclimate change.

4. To develop a roadmap for indigenous peoples which will guide them on how toinfluence the 2009 Conference of Parties which will be held in Copenhagenand the agreements which will be reached by the UNFCCC in 2012.

5. To build an Asia-wide network of indigenous peoples on climate change whichwill monitor the implementation of UNFCCC agreements and influence theconduct and results of forthcoming negotiations.

40

P R O G R A M M E

23 February, Monday

Arrival of Participants and Registration

7:30 pm D I N N E R

24 February, Tuesday

9:00am – 9:15am Opening Ritual - c/o AMAN

9:15am – 9:30am Welcome Remarks - Mr. Abdon Nababan Secretary General Alyansi Masyarakat Adat Nusantara (AMAN)

9:30am – 9:45am Keynote Address - Ms. Victoria Tauli-Corpuz Executive Director, Tebtebba Chairperson, UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII)

9:45am – 10:00am Objectives of the Conference

10:00am – 10:15am Introduction of Participants

10:15am – 10:30am B R E A K

10:30am – 11:30am Plenary Session 1: Overview of Climate Change - Joji Carino Policy Adviser, Tebtebba

11:30am – 12:30 noon Open Forum/Discussions

12:30am – 1:30pm L U N C H

1:30pm – 2:30pm Plenary Session 2: Country Presentations of the Researches on Local Adaptation and Mitigation Strategies of Indigenous Peoples on Climate Change [20 minutes each for the country presentations]

Plenary Session 2 A: South East Asia 1. Indonesia 2. Malaysia 3. Philippines

2:30pm – 3:30pm Open Forum/Discussions/BREAK

41

3:30pm – 4:1opm Plenary Session 2 B: Mekong 4. Vietnam 5. Burma

4:10pm – 4:40pm Open Forum/Discussions/BREAK

4:40pm – 5:20pm Plenary Session 2 C: South Asia 6. Bangladesh 7. India

5:20pm – 6:00pm Open Forum/Discussions

7:00pm- R E C E P T I O N/D I N N E R

25 February, Wednesday

8:30am – 8:45am Synthesis of Day 1

8:45am – 9:45am Plenary Session 3: State of Negotiations at and Implementation of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the Kyoto Protocol: Key Issues Relevant to Indigenous Peoples

- Vicky Tauli-Corpuz Executive Director, Tebtebba

9:45amam – 10:45am Open Forum/Discussions/Working Break

10:45am – 11:45am Plenary Session 4: Bilateral and Multilateral Initiatives on Climate Change 1. UNDP - Regional Initiative on Indigenous Peoples' Rights and Development in the Asia Pacific (RIPP) 2. Bilateral Initiatives:

• orwegian Climate Forest Initiative

• ustralian International Forest Carbon Initiative

• thers

3. UN-REDD Programme 4. Existing and Proposed UNFCCC Funds

11:45am – 12:30pm Open Forum/Discussions

12:30pm – 1:30pm L U N C H

1:30pm – 2:30 pm Plenary Session 5: World Bank: Forest Investment Programme and other Climate Investment Funds and the Forest Carbon Partnership Facility

2:30pm – 3:30pm Open Forum/Discussions

42

3:30pm – 3:45 pm Orientation for the Break-out Workshop Groups/Working Break

3:45 pm- 6:00pm Workshop 1* - Identification of Issues, Concerns & Ways Forward

• Climate Change, Indigenous Women & Children • Climate Change, Biodiversity and Traditional

Knowledge, including Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD)

• Climate Change, Human Rights & the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples

• Climate Change and Indigenous Peoples' Self-determined Development

*Local mitigation and adaptation measures will be cross-cutting issues for all the workshops.

7:00pm- D I N N E R

26 February, Thursday

8:30am – 8:45am Synthesis of Day 2

8:45am – 10:00am Plenary Session 6: Report Back from Workshop 1

10:00am – 10:15am B R E A K

10:15am – 12:30pm Workshop 2* : Making Climate Change Processes and Responses Sensitive to Indigenous Peoples' Rights and Self-determined Development

• Indigenous Peoples Strategies on Climate Change: Mainstreaming indigenous peoples’ issues and rights in the UNFCCC and 2nd Commitment Period of Kyoto Protocol

• Influencing other multilateral organizations and processes to develop and implement policies, programs and projects on climate change appropriate for indigenous peoples.

• Capacity-building needs and programmes for indigenous peoples

- Asia Network of Indigenous Peoples on Climate Change

• Designing an Asia Indigenous Peoples' Road Map to Copenhagen and Beyond

12:30pm – 1:30pm L U N C H

1:30pm – 3:00pm Plenary Session 7: Report Back of Workshop 2

3:00pm – 3:15pm B R E A K

43

3:15pm – 4:30pm Adoption of Indigenous Peoples' Strategies on Climate Change, Road Map and Summit Declaration

4:30pm – 4:45pm Closing Ritual - c/o AMAN

4:45pm – 5:00pm Closing Remarks

27 February, Friday

Community Visit and Solidarity Activity through sharing of Cultures

28 February, Saturday

Departure

*NOTE: Workshop Guidelines to be drafted; Video presentations can be done in theevenings.

Organized by:

The main organizers for this Summit are Tebtebba (Indigenous Peoples’International Centre for Policy Research and Education) and AMAN (AliansiMasyarakat Adat Nusantara). There is an Asian Indigenous Peoples’ SteeringCommittee established in Chiang Mai, Thailand in 2008 which is composedof the various focal persons in the various Asian countries. The members ofthis group are helping identify the participants from their countries and havepinpointed the persons who are doing the research on local adaptation andmitigation measures.

With support from:

44

Statement to the Human Rights Council,Agenda item 2Thursday March 12, 2008

Joint Indigenous Peoples and NGO Statement on the occasion of thepresentation of the Report of the Office of the United Nations HighCommissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) on the relationship betweenclimate change and human rights

Submitted by: International Work Group for Indigenous Affairs,Tebtebba Foundation, Saami Council and RAIPON

We, the undersigned indigenous peoples’ organizations and support NGOs,welcome the report of the OHCHR on the relationship between climate changeand human rights. It is a major concern for us that the close relationship betweenindigenous peoples’ enjoyment of their human rights and the wellbeing healthof the ecosystems in which they live has to a very large extent been neglectedin the international debate on climate change and strategies to mitigate andaddress its effects. Further, todate the crucial relationship between climatechange and human rights has not been addressed in the key UN forum taskedwith addressing climate change, the UN Framework Convention on ClimateChange, despite strong and consistent calls by indigenous peoples for their rightsto be recognized and respected. Mechanisms for their full and effectiveparticipation in the UNFCCC processes are not in place, limiting the opportunityfor them to provide important contributions to the climate negotiations.

The report of the OHCHR is a timely recognition of indigenous peoples’ specialvulnerability with regards to both the direct effects of climate change on theirlands, territories and resources, and the consequences of the climate changemitigation measures being negotiated. As the report highlights, indigenouspeoples’ fundamental right to self-determination and to preserve their culturaland social identities is at stake when their lands, territories and resources arethreatened. The report calls for State action: “While there is no clear precedenceto follow, it is clear that insofar as climate change poses a threat to the right ofpeoples to self-determination, States have a duty to take positive action,individually and jointly, to address and avert this threat. Equally, States have anobligation to take action to avert climate change impacts which threaten thecultural and social identity of indigenous peoples”.

Likewise, their right to self-determined development, and to participate in all

Annex 3: Statement of Indigenous Peoples’ Organizations andNGOs on the HRC Report on Climate Change and Human Rights

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levels of decision-making on matters that may impact on their lands, resourcesand livelihoods, is at stake. As the report recognizes, the rights of indigenouspeoples are violated when mitigation measures such as agrofuel plantationsand large hydroelectric dams are approved without their involvement, andwhen such measures are implemented on customary and traditional landswithout their free, prior and informed consent.

The report confirms and explains that States have international legal obligationsto recognize and protect the rights of indigenous peoples and other vulnerablegroups’ in the context of measures taken by States to address climate change.We strongly call on the Human Rights Council to adopt the report and to urgeStates to follow up on the recommendations presented therein.

Specifically, we call on the Human Rights Council to:1. Recognise the specific vulnerability of indigenous peoples to the effects

of climate change and to the impacts of actions to address climate change2. Recommend UN human rights mechanisms participate fully in the

processes of the UNFCCC to provide immediate and effective adviceregarding human rights obligations and impacts for actions designed toaddress climate change

3. Recommend that State parties ensure the effective participation ofindigenous peoples in global and national level policy development forclimate change mitigation and adaptation actions

4. Recommend that State parties ensure that the free, prior and informedconsent of indigenous peoples is required and gained prior to anyclimate change adaptation or mitigation action impacting on thetraditional lands and resources of indigenous peoples, including impactson the carbon stores on their lands

5. Recommend that State parties and UN policies and programmes provideindigenous peoples with access to funds, technical advice and supportfor the self-development of adaptation actions for climate change

6. Recommend the UNFCCC to assist in the full implement of the UNDeclaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples as required underArticles 41 and 42 of the Declaration

7. Recommend the UNFCCC establish an advisory body to the Conventionon the human rights impacts of climate change and of the actions takento mitigate the effects of climate change

8. Recommend the UNFCCC ensure that rights-holders, includingindigenous peoples, are represented in key decision making bodieswithin the UNFCCC

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Signed by:

Maleya Foundation – BangladeshAsia Indigenous Peoples Pact Foundation (AIPP) – InternationalNepal Federation of Indigenous Nationalities (NEFIN) – NepalIndigenous Peoples Forum on North East India – IndiaBuilding initiatives in Indigenous Heritage (BiiH) – MalaysiaJaringan Orang Asal SeMalaysia (JOAS) – MalaysiaIndigenous National Women Union of Manipur – IndiaPlan Timor Leste – Timor LesteTebtebba Foundation – PhilippinesNational Network of Indigenous Women – PhilippinesNepal Federation of Indigenous Nationalities – NepalIndigenous Peoples Foundation for Education and Environment (IPF) -ThailandIntermountain Peoples Education and Culture in Thailand Association(IMPECT) - ThailandIndigenous Knowledge and Peoples - ThailandCollaborative Management Learning Network (CMLN) – ThailandMainyoito Pastoralist Integrated Development Organisation (MPIDO) - KenyaLelewal – CameroonCambodia Indigenous Youth Association – CambodiaHighlander Association – Ratanakiri Province – CambodiaYulong Culture and Gender Research Center – ChinaCenter for Sustainable Development in Mountainous Areas – VietnamAssociation of Taiwanese Indigenous Peoples Development (ATIPD) – TaiwanAssociation for Taiwan Indigenous Peoples Policies (ATIPP) – TaiwanAssociation of Taiwan Kanakanavu Cultural and Economic Development –TaiwanJharkhand Save the Forest Movement – IndiaKalahan Educataional Foundation – PhilippinesLifeMosaic – UKPhilippine Indigenous Peoples Links (PIPLinks) – UKForest Peoples Programme – InternationalInternational Work Group for Indigenous Affairs (IWGIA) – InternationalSaami Council – InternationalRussian Association of Indigenous Peoples of the North (RAIPON) - RussianFederationNetherlands Centre for Indigenous Peoples (NCIV) – InternationalCanadian Friends Service Committee (Quakers) – CanadaWomen’s International League for Peace and Freedom (German Section) –GermanyFoodfirst Information and Action Network (FIAN) – InternationalForum Menschenrechte Berlin – Germany